Sunday, April 5, 2015

Yellow and Green




Yellow is a big hit in our household - it's Tadpole's favorite color. So it was no surprise that when she and I were looking at yarn a few months ago for a new sweater for her, she automatically picked a bright yellow for her Wee Wildflower. The last sweater I knit her was a dud (I don't think she's worn it voluntarily). But to say this one's a hit would be the understatement of the year.


(I think that's supposed to be a pirate face.)



For starters, she stayed relatively still and looked in the general direction of the camera while wearing it, which almost never happens. And she wears it all the time. Voluntarily!

I used Quince & Co. Finch for this one (three skeins and a little bit for a size 4/6 hybrid). My gauge was a bit looser than the recommended yarn so I was able to follow the size 4 directions to get a roughly size 6 sweater. I think it'll still fit this fall (fingers crossed).


The pockets come in handy! I asked her the other day whether she wanted another sweater and the response was "Yes, please. In bright yellow." I have my eye on this pattern (maybe even matching sweaters for the girls). Yarn thoughts? I'm tempted to go with another Quince yarn but am all ears for suggestions.

I've also started my KAL sweater. This was my swatch:


I had read a blog post a few weeks ago mentioning not just knitting a sleeve as a swatch but dunking the whole thing (needles and all) to see how the fabric changes after wet blocking and thought that would be perfect for this sweater. (In case you're wondering, Addi lace needles do just fine getting dropped in the sink.)

By this point in my sleeve/swatch, I was pretty sure that I'd need to frog the whole thing and start over. The ribbing at the bottom wasn't as tidy as I wanted. The tubular cast-on edge looked a bit loose and wonky. And the color work section seemed to be pulling in too much to maintain the even tension I needed.

But I hadn't realized what miracles wet blocking would work on this yarn.


After a soak in the sink, the yarn fulled ever so slightly to create a beautiful, soft fabric. All of a sudden my ribbing looked cleaner (not perfect, but something I can live with). The cast on edge looked tighter. And I was able to gently massage the color work section into roughly the the same gauge as the stockinette portion.  (Look at the right edge of the sleeve in the picture above - the increases on the left make it difficult to judge the line).

Dare I say I'm hoping the weather stays cool enough I'll get to wear this one at least once this spring?

5 comments:

Jennifer said...

So cute! I love her pirate face. ;)

I'm thrilled that she loves this gorgeous sweater. That's always a knitter's dream come true. Because it's so disappointing when a hand knit sweater is a dud and our lovely children simply refuse to wear them. So glad this on is a hit!

Happy knitting.

Stephanie said...

Hooray for little ones loving their handknits! No better compliment than choosing to wear them. How old is Tadpole? 4? I'm thinking of knitting Emma a Harvest cardigan with 3 skeins of Madelinetosh 80-10-10 MCN Worsted I have stashed. The sizes are 2-4 and 4-6. She will be 3 in June, but is petite, so I'm conflicted on sizing. Should measure her. Maybe circumference of smaller size with length of larger.

Anyway, your swatch looks great and it's wonderful you can continue to knit on with the sleeve!

Jodi said...

Gorgeous sweater, and what a happy girl! I wonder -- do you think she prefers cardigans? I like the Gretel pattern, but if pullovers are a sticking point... I don't think you can go wrong with Quince & Co., and Carrie's Yellow is beautiful. I'm using it (Finch - sport) for a baby sweater right now and really enjoying it.

Linda said...

Lovely photos and beautiful sweater. :)

Rachel said...

what a beautiful photo of the flowers! i'm actually not real partial to yellow but the colors in that photo are gorgeous!

Glad to see tadpole liked her yellow sweater...such a cutie even with a pirate face!

So the same happened with my shelter sleeve when it took a dunk...gauge was spot on and the yarn bloomed like nothing I've seen before. Still not making much progress as I'm in the last stages of getting ready to leave and the to do list is quite impressive. But in about a week, I'll have more time to knit and the sweater will be the first I pick up!